The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Left unfinished after Dickens died in 1870, The Mystery of Edwin Drood centers on Edwin Drood's uncle, John Jasper, and his love for Rosa Bud, Edwin's fiancee. Set in the dark, fictional cathedral city of Cloisterham, the novel is awash with guilt, disguise and mystery. It contains some fine writing, and just before his death, Dickens left an indication of where the plot was going, which is included.

Marie

Allan Quatermain, hero of King Solomon's mines, tells a moving tale of his first wife, the Dutch-born Marie Marais, and the adventures that were linked to her beautiful, tragic history. This moving story depicts the tumultuous political era of the 1830s, involving the Boers, French colonists and the Zulu tribe in the Cape colony of South Africa. Hate and suspicion run high between the home government and the Dutch subjects.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

A natural storyteller and raconteur in his own right - just listen to Paddle Your Own Canoe and Gumption - actor, comedian, carpenter, and all-around manly man Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) brings his distinctive baritone and a fine-tuned comic versatility to Twain's writing. In a knockout performance, he doesn't so much as read Twain's words as he does rejoice in them, delighting in the hijinks of Tom - whom he lovingly refers to as a "great scam artist" and "true American hero".

Ivanhoe

Ivanhoe is the perfect novel for any listener who loves an action-packed adventure based on the mythology and legends of Medieval times in England. Set in the 12th century, Ivanhoe is the story of a young man who joins up with Richard the Lion Hearted during a dark time where England is split between the Normans and the Saxons, pitting friends and family against each other through the conquering of land and the changing seats of the Royal Family.

The Three Musketeers

This historical romance, perhaps the greatest cloak-and-sword story ever, relates the adventures of four fictional swashbuckling heroes who served the French kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV. When the dashing young D'Artagnon arrives in Paris from Gascony, he becomes embroiled in three duels with the Three Musketeers: Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. But when he proves himself by fighting not against, but with, the Three Musketeers, they form a quick and lasting friendship.

The Cat of Bubastes

The sacred cat of Bubastes has accidentally been slain; now young Chebron must pay for the offense with his own life, as this is the law of the Pagans in Egypt, 1250 BC. Chebron, the son of a high Egyptian priest, flees for his life taking his sister Mysa, one of the household slaves Amuba, and several companions with him.

Sons and Lovers

Sons and Lovers, D. H. Lawrence's first major novel, was also the first in the English language to explore ordinary working-class life from the inside. No writer before or since has written so well about the intimacies enforced by a tightly knit mining community and by a family where feelings are never hidden for long. When the marriage between Walter Morel and his sensitive, high-minded wife begins to break down, the bitterness of their frustration seeps into their children's lives.

A Tale of Two Cities [Tantor]

A Tale of Two Cities is one of Charles Dickens's most exciting novels. Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, it tells the story of a family threatened by the terrible events of the past. Doctor Manette was wrongly imprisoned in the Bastille for 18 years without trial by the aristocratic authorities.

The Life of Abraham Lincoln

In his introduction to The Life of Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ketcham notes that there has been so much written about Lincoln that the legend has begun to obscure, if not to efface, the man. “In this biography the single purpose has been to present the living man with such distinctness of outline that the reader may have a sort of feeling of being acquainted with him.”

Life on the Mississippi [Blackstone]

The Mississippi River, known as “America’s River” and Mark Twain are practically synonymous in American culture. The popularity of Twain’s steamboat and steamboat pilot on the ever-changing Mississippi has endured for over a century. A brilliant amalgam of remembrance and reportage, by turns satiric, celebratory, nostalgic, and melancholy, Life on the Mississippi evokes the great river that Mark Twain knew as a boy and young man and the one he revisited as a mature and successful author.

The Prince and the Pauper

One of the great literary classics of Western literature. Set in 1547, this is the tale of a London beggar boy and the English prince who exchange identities.

Mark Twain, real name Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), is one of the Great American Novelists. Friend to presidents, artists, indutrialists and European royalty, Twain is universally renowned for his wit and astute satire.

The Valley of Fear

Only Holmes and Watson can get to the bottom of this baffling murder mystery. John Douglas is found in his study, blasted faceless by a sawed-off shotgun. There is no obvious motive or suspect. Douglas and his wife, Ivy, a rich and locally popular couple, have lived for years in the ancient, moated Birlstone Manor House. Despite Douglas' nightly ritual of raising the drawbridge, the perpetrator had somehow concealed himself, shot Douglas, and made a clean getaway.

My Man, Jeeves

Containing drafts of stories later rewritten for other collections (including Carry On, Jeeves), My Man Jeeves offers a fascinating insight into the genesis of comic literature’s most celebrated double-act. All the stories are set in New York, four of them featuring Jeeves and Wooster themselves; the rest concerning Reggie Pepper, an earlier version of Bertie.

David Copperfield [Audible]

Between his work on the 2014 Audible Audiobook of the Year, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Novel, and his performance of Classic Love Poems, narrator Richard Armitage (The Hobbit, Hannibal) has quickly become a listener favorite. Now, in this defining performance of Charles Dickens' classic David Copperfield, Armitage lends his unique voice and interpretation, truly inhabiting each character and bringing real energy to the life of one of Dickens' most famous characters.

This Side of Paradise

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s pseudo- autobiographical first novel. It describes life at Princeton among the glittering, bored, and disillusioned “lost generation” of post World War1 America. Published in 1920, when he was just 23, the novel was an overnight success and propelled Fitzgerald to instant stardom as spokesman of the Jazz Age.

Roughing It

In 1861, young Mark Twain found himself adrift as a tenderfoot in the Wild West. Roughing It is a hilarious record of his travels over a six-year period that comes to life with his inimitable mixture of reporting, social satire, and rollicking tall tales. Twain reflects on his scuffling years mining silver in Nevada, working at a Virginia City newspaper, being downandout in San Francisco, reporting for a newspaper from Hawaii, and more.

Silas Marner

For 15 years the weaver Silas Marner has plied his loom near the village of Raveloe, alone and unjustly in exile, cut off from faith and human love, he cares only for his hoard of golden guineas. But two events occur that will change his life forever; his gold disappears and a golden-haired baby girl appears. But where did she come from and who really stole the gold? This moving tale sees Silas eventually redeemed and restored to life by the unlikely means of his love for the orphan child Eppie.

Publisher's Summary

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is both a whimsical fantasy and a social satire chock-full of brilliant Twainisms. Hank Morgan, a 19th-century American - a Connecticut Yankee - by a stroke of fate is sent back into time to sixth-century England and ends up in Camelot and King Arthur's Court. Although of average intelligence, he finds himself with knowledge beyond any of those in the sixth century, and he uses it to become the king's right-hand man and to challenge Merlin as the court magician. Astounded at the way of life in Camelot, Hank does the only thing he can think of to do: change them. In his attempt to civilize medieval Camelot, he experiences many challenges and misadventures.

When you pick up a Twain you know you'll get a good yarn. This is no exception. This is another book I read in my youth. I remember it more fondly that it appears to me now. I guess this goes to prove that tastes change and, in that sense, they mature. It's still a good yarn. Not as funny as I remember it to be and more tragic, too. The satire is classic Twain. The wit sharp and, at times, quite brutal. The attack on the Dixie South slavery and serfdom is caustic, for example. The attack on the monarchy (more visceral than mocking) and hereditary privilege is relentless and, I felt, overdone. Perhaps that is because I don't need to be convinced. Another example is Hank Morgan's (aka Twain's) disdain of the Catholic Church. Ironically, Twain's criticism is almost religious. Similarly, his zeal for universeral sufferage is fanatical. Through it all, there is no mistaking Twain's message. It might be written through the conceit of a Yankee who is struck on the head in the 1890s and wakes up in the 7th Century, but the opinions are still controversial in the 21st Century.Stangely, I found the message less palatable in 2012 than I did in the 1980s, although I agee with most of Twain's views. Generally, I found it a bit forced for my modern sensibility.From a performance point of view, William Dufris delivers his customary skilled performance. I particularly liked his Twain and his Sandy. However, there are not enough characters to allow him to shine.Overall, I'm not sure I should have re-read this book. My memory of it was better, but that's no reflection on the production values or the performance. As a first time read, I think it would have scored better.

If you could sum up A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court in three words, what would they be?

Hillarious, interesting, classic

What about William Dufris’s performance did you like?

The narrator gave an excellence performance. The different voices he used made it seem like a theatrical presentations. I've tried to read this book in the past and couldn't get into it but this version was mesmerizing.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Since I listen to books to help fall asleep at night, no. But insomnia aside, yes.

If they liked Sci Fi, this is the earliest example of popular alternate history work that I am aware of and its fairly good writing.

What other book might you compare A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court to and why?

Parts of the book are very 'Mark Twain' kind of amusing yarn spinning, and other parts read more like modern sci-fi.

What does William Dufris bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Excellent reader. I'll probably look for other books he's read and consider buying them no matter what they are.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not particularly.

Any additional comments?

I'm sure I'll keep this is my rotation of books and read it at least a few more times. There were a few slow parts, and some parts that were just too rooted in the time it was written for me to really follow completely, but overall I liked it.

I've been listening to a lot of classics on audible lately, and while I appreciate their literary value, I find most of them difficult to slog through. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, however, didn't feel like an aged classic. It felt downright modern.

Dufris narration undoubtedly helped with the modern feel of the book; it was smooth and natural.

Oddly this production reminded me of "Off to be the Wizard" or a Scalzi book. Except funnier at times, because Mark Twain is a a genius with language. His wit is, if not timeless, than still well before its Use-By date.

Mark Twain's rapier wit vs. the ills of the un-American world both past and present in the guise of Medieval England. Representing the case for all things un-American is King Arthur himself as characterized in Sir Thomas Malory's La Morte d'Arthur. It's no spoiler to say that Arthur's Camelot is well and truly skewered at every conceivable turn.

One of the things great literature does is hold a mirror, both to the times in which it is written and to the times in which it is read. I went through this in the midst of the government shutdown of 2013, and it's fair to say that Twain points out pretty well exactly where the flaws in our own system have been exacerbated. I found myself laughing quite a bit, but there were more than a handful of uneasy chuckles as I realized how many of his words struck home in this day and age. You see, in 1889 when this was written, Britain was in the midst of its Victorian Age, and all that Imperialist expansionism implies. The US had barely left behind the Civil War a generation back, and the wounds were still fresh. Today, the US is feeling the economic and social repercussions of its own Imperial expansionism (even when we don't acknowledge it ourselves for what it is), so the double meaning through the mirror of modern times is rather apt and sobering. Social classes, slavery, unnecessarily complex language... it's all here, and so much more, fired at with both barrels in terms that only Twain could deliver. Chapter breaks only serve to allow him to reload.

William Dufris is an astounding narrator, coming across as though Twain himself were narrating this, mocking virtually every character encountered along the path. It's a performance you have to hear to believe.

I'd read this many years ago, and picked up the Audio as a daily deal. Dufris is a very accomplished narrator and does a fine job here.

This is primarily a satirical novel, in which Twain lauds the nobility of the ignoble, while excoriating the ignominy of the nobility. His observations on slavery are deeply compelling. One must note that this book was written with the Civil War very much in living memory, and one can only imagine the controversy such writing would evoke. There are also longish passages on economic issues which would have been extremely topical in 1890, but much less so today.

Some will feel that a satirical piece of this length is just one long harangue. Perhaps it is, but Twain's wit and essential gentility keep it from becoming dark.

Would you listen to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court again? Why?

Yes. I already have done so.

What other book might you compare A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court to and why?

It is a classic fish out of water, step back in time tale. What you do if you could step back into time?

Which character – as performed by William Dufris – was your favorite?

Well I did like Clarence but I also enjoyed the portrayal of "Sandy".

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes and I almost did. It was only 2 sittings anyhow.

Any additional comments?

I though Twain was making some big statements against Monarchy and Slavery. I dare say this may have been the motivation for the story. Twain is a great story teller. I do make one comment though that in reading it today not only is the language of Arthur's day antiquated, as Twain points out but the language of Twain's day is similarly so. This kinda is part of the attraction to the tale.

This book might be a bit of a slog for modern readers, but William Dufries's narration makes it a joy. Not only does he "do the voices," but he also lends each sentence the humor, satire, or pathos called for in the story. The laughter, the tears, the wonder of each character is brought marvelously to life and I found myself as affected by the writing as would a contemporary of Twain listening to the great man reading it aloud himself.

Great book and the narrator was excellent. He was fantastic at changing his accent to suit the characters.

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ajb

UK

3/9/13

Overall

"A great tale, full of wit an humour"

I spent some time listening to the samples for the different unabridged versions of this book and finally chose William Dufris. Am very pleased with my choice, he makes an excellent Connecticut Yankee and delivers the brilliant and witty dialogue in just the right way. A great story and a pleasure to listen to.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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